Method of and means for effecting closures



. Nair. 17', 1925' 1362.013

' H. BATCHELOR METHOD or-AND MEANS FOR EFFECTING CLOSURES Filed Sept.16, 1924 l. munmun m HamldBak/MZW 1 W flue m a??? M Patente d Nov. 17,1925.

UNITED PATENT ()FFICE.

HAROLD BATGI-IELOR, or JERSEY CITY, NEW; JERSEY, AssIeNoR'ro ALBERT J.

srnnnr'na-or NEWXORKfN; Y.

METHOD or AND MEANS FOR-EF EC ING .CLOSURES.

I Application flled septembct 16, 1924. Serial No. 737,978.

To all whomit may concern Be it known that I, HAROLD Bare-Huron,-

a citizen of the United States of America,

residing at Jersey City, in the countyof Hudson and State of New Jersey,havednvented certain new and useful Improvements One objectofthe'inv'ention is 'to provide of effecting an air tight seal ofcontainers'of the type having a neck or some other portion of theexterior formed with projections or interrrupted threads engaged byco-operating portions on the closure cap. Owing to variations inmanufacture, trouble. has heretofore been an improved way experienced:in. getting uniform and satisfactory seals with closures of thetypementioned, as, so far as known to-the. applicant, no priorconstruction'hasprovided away bywhich the closure can be satisfactorilyadjusted or theseal perfected in spite of such variations. "Vhere thecontents'of the containers are in liquid form this has necessitatedtests and inspection after sealing, and they rejection of allcontainersiwhere the seal Pl'OVQSllllPBIfBCt or leaky. WVhere thecontents are not liquid, or are only semi-liquid, but must be protectedfrom the air,ya satisfactory test andinspection is very difiicult, andfor, (such contents the use of some form of closure other than the capclosure type above mentioned is necessary, such asforexample,a-soldered-on top for a firmly inserted cork. This inventionprovides a convenient and inexpensive way. 'of sealing such contents bya closure-cap and at the same r time effecting and'insuring an air-tightseal regardless of even very considerable irregu larities and variationsin the co-operating portions of the containers and the closures.

Most of the cap closures of the kind above mentioned employ, a corkior acomposition insert to form the sealbetween the closure cap and the mouthof the container. It frequently happens that while theseal willpassfirst inspection after standing storage, thevinsert willshrinkorbeconieaffected in such a way thatthe ,sealwillbecome imperfect. This usuallymeans-recapping, even if the defect is discovered in time to prevent'theloss of the contents of the container. in accordance with the presentinvention, the closuresmay be conveniently tightened periodically, orwhenever such tightening appears advisable. I

I Another oh'ect of'theinvention is to provide an indicator or detectorwhich will show whether the container has been opened. This issoconstructed thatzitafl'ords. a pr otection against unauthorized removalor substitution of'the contents ofithe container.

The invention has other and incidental objects-which will be clearlyapparent'from thefollowi ng description-in connection with theillustrative drawings accompanying and forming a part of thisspecificati0n:'

In said drawings: Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are respect-ivelytop, bottom, andside views of a preferred formof the capclosure. I

Fig. 4 is a top view of a container constructed to co-operate with 3 theclosure cap shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. p 1

Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively atop and a side view of amodified form ofthe closure cap. i

tion. I 1

Fig. 8 isa top view of a container having a modified form of projectionto be engaged byclosure capssuch as shown in Figs. 5,6, and7.

7 is a side view of another modifica- If such containers-are sealed iFig. 9 1s aside view 'of a container such-as is shown inFig. 4:.

Fig. 10 is a side view of a container with a closure cap su'chas showni'n "Figs.1, 2, and 3 in'sealing position, and also shows one way inwhich the thief-pr'oofdevice inay cooperate with the container.

Fig. "llis a side view of the container shown in Fig. "8, with a closurecap such as satisfactory seal. of the container; but to insure andperfect the seal the material of the skirt may be operated upon afterthe engagement is made so that in effect the skirt is shortened, orrather the distance between the lugs carried by the skirt and the top ofthe cap is shortened, thereby drawing the inner top of the cap or thesealing insert therein into close engagement with the top of thecontainer. This shortening or bending of the material of the skirt maybe different at different points on the periphery of the skirt, therebyadjusting and fitting the cap so as to conform with and compensate forirregularities either at the mouth of the container or in the cap andinsert.

The container may have a neck such as shown Lt 20, Figs. 4, 9 and 10,provided with lugs or projections 21, to be engaged by internallyextending lugs 22, Figs. 2, 3, ('5 and 7, of a closure cap. The lugs 21may have their lower walls inclined or otherwise formed, as shown at 23,to serve as cams. The closure cap is first placed over the mouth of thecontainer in such a way that the lugs 22 pass between the projections 21on the container, and the cap is then rotated until one of the lugs 22strikes a stop, such as shown at 24. This rotation of the cap will causethe inclined surfaces 23 to pull the cap down so as to bring the cork orother insert 25 in the cap into engagement with the mouth of thecontainer, but this engagement may not be uniform As so far described,the closure cap and its co-op-eration with the container issubstantially the same as with numerous construe tions in the prior art.

The form of improved closure cap shown in Figs. 3, 7 and 10 has aperipheral bead 27, which projects far enough for the top and bottomwalls thereof to be engaged bya pair of pliers or other suitable toolfor closing up the bead by forcing the top and bottom walls of the beadone toward the other. The lugs 22 on the closure cap cooperating withthe projections 21 on the container will cause this closing up of thehead to draw the closure cap into firmer engagement with the mouth ofthe container. The operation of closing up the head to shorten thedistance between the lugs 22 on the cap and the top 29'of the cap may beperformed all at one operation by a suitably con structed tool; but itis preferable to operate upon a portion only of the bead at a time,thereby making it possible to vary the compression of the differentportions of the bead, and in that way make it possible to accommodatethe seal to irregularities and variations in the conformation of thecontainer mouth or irregularities in insert 25.

The bead 27 is preferably slotted at vanious points to make theoperation of closing the bead easier to perform, and also to give.

a certain amount of resilience to the cap. This resiliency will assistin maintaining the closure by co-operation of the lugs 22 with theprojections 21, as each portion of the head between the slots thereinhas substantially the function of a spring tending to draw or hold thetop in firm contact with the mouth of the container and if it isnecessary for the head to be closed up at any of such positions tocorrect irregularities such closing will insure or increase the springeffect at that point. The material of which the cap is made ispreferably one which while having a certain amount of resiliency willtake a permanent set when it has been operated upon by bending andforming tools. It will be seen that the slots in the bead, divide thebead into a peripherally extending series of beads each substantiallyindependent of the other.

After the closure cap is in sealing position, a tongue 32 will be inclose juxtaposition. to a shoulder or projection on the neck of thecontainer. This shoulder or projection may be of any suitable shape orlocation or may be an extension of one of the projections 21, or may beone of the walls of the stop 24. The tongue 32 is connected to the bodyof the closure cap by a fragile portion of the material, and ispreferably distinctively colored so that its presence or absence may bereadily detected. This tongue, after the container is sealed, is pushedinward so that it will be in engagement with the stop 24:, orcorresponding projection on the container, the engagement being suchthat a removal of the closure cap will cause the tongue 32 to be brokenoff. The connection between the tongue 32 and the rest of the cap ispreferably so fragile so that after the tongue has once been bent intoeffective position, an attempt to move it to ineffective. position willbe sufficient to fracture the connection between it and the cap eventhough at the time no attempt is made to remove the cap.

In Figs. 8 and 11 there is illustrated a container which instead of theprojections 21 has a continuous rib 35, the upper surface of which maybe formed to act as a cam. The closure cap shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 maybe used with slight modifications on containers provided with continuousrib The cap would then simply be forced down to carry its lugs past rib35, when the lugs will snap into engaging position under the rib andthereby hold the closure cap in sealing position.

One modification of the cap when it is in tended to use it'with thecontinuous rib is shown in Fig. 7, in which it will be seen that some ofthe slots in the head 27 are continued down to the bottom of the skirt,thereby giving more resilient construction.

"tinuous rib will, of course,'invol've a cor responding modification ofthe lug or proj ection' with which'the thief-proof device 32 is engagedafter sealing is effected. This .modificationmay also be used with a container having the cam lugs or projections 23 (Fig. 9) so that rotationof this modified form of cap with the lugs v22 thereof in engagem'entwith the cams 23 will draw the closure into firm engagement with themouth of' the container. \Vhen so used the separate sections'of theskirt formed by extending the slotsto the lower edge of the skirt, willpermit the resilient bow or head 27 in each section to act to a certainextent independently of the bead in other sections in adjustingtheclosure and holding it in sealing contact with the mouth of thecontainer.

The'form of closurecap shown in Figs. 5,

6, and ll isia suitable one forv use where the material forming the capis resilient enough to maintain the seal and at the same time is capableof taking a permanent set. Instead of the form of skirt shown in Figs. 3and 7, the skirt is shortened and is provided with extensions 36, thelower ends of which are formed to provide the lugs 22 for engaging thecontainer and which are bent at an intermediate'point, as shown at 38,to form a bead or bow which may be engaged by suitable toolsto compressthe head or increase the bow and thereby shorten the distance betweenthe lugs 22 and the top of the cap. This will cause the insert 25 in theclosure cap to be adjusted and drawn into firm engagement with the mouthofthe container, even though the co-operation of the lugs 22 with thecorresponding projection or projections on the container before thecrimp ing operation does not satisfactorily produce that result.

\Vhile the foregoing illustrates a means and method for fulfillingsatisfactorily the objects primarily stated, it is not the desire to belimited to the embodiments shown and described, as other embodiments andmodifications may be satisfactorily employed, all coming within thescope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is 1. The combination with a container having theexterior around its mouth provided with projections the lower walls ofwhich are formed as cams and at least one of which is provided with avertical wall serving as a stop, of a closure cap provided with lugs forengagement with the cam portions of said projections, whereby rotationof the cap until arrested by the step will cause the inner top of thecap to be drawn into engagement with the mouth of the container, and aent port on between ea h g and the top of the cap which may be'furtherbent after the rotation of the cap'ha's been arrestedby the stop to=drawthe closure intocloser engagement with the mouth of the container.

2; lie combination with a closure cap comprising a skirt formed with aperipherallyextending series of out turned beads projecting far enoughtopermit engagement of the walls of the beads by suitable means forfurther closing up the beads and having internally extending projectionsbe low said beads, and a container having its exterior formed toco-operate with saidprojections to hold the closure in sealing positionon the mouth of the container.

8.- The method of sealing containers of the type in which projectionsextending inward from the closure'c-ap co-operatewith correspondingoutwardly projecting. portions on the neck of the container, whichconsists in: engaging the two sets of projections to seat the cap insealing position onthe container and then bending portions of the metalabove the projections'to draw the closure into firmer engagement withthe mouth of the container.

4:. The method of sealing containers of the type in which projectionsextending inward from the closure cap co-operate with correspondingoutwardly projecting portions on the neck of the container, whichconsists in engaging the two sets of projections to hold the cap insealing position on the container and then variably bending clifferentportions of the metal above the projections to adjust and draw theclosure into uniform sealing engagement with the mouth of the container.

5. The method of sealing a container of the kind which has externalprojections about its mouth by means of a closure cap comprising a skirtprovided with lugs, which consists in placing the cap in sealingposition over the container mouth, then engaging the lugs on the skirtwith the projections on the container to hold the cap in sealingposition and then bending the material of the skirt between said lugsand the top of the skirt to shorten said skirt.

6. The method of sealing a container of the kind which has one or moreexternal projections about its mouth by means of a closure capcomprising a skirt carrying internally extending lugs, which consists inplacing the cap over the mouth of the container and engaging the lugswith the projections on the container to hold the cap in position andthen bending the material of the skirt between said lugs and the top ofthe skirt to shorten said skirt.

7. The combination with a container having the exterior around its mouthprovided with projections, the lower walls of which are formed as camsand least one of which.

is provided with a vertical wall serving as astop, of a closure capprovided with lugs for engagement with the cam portions of saidprojections, whereby rotation of the cap until arrested by the stop willcause the inner top of the cap to be drawn toward the mouth of thecontainer, and a distinctively colored tongue adapted to be engagedbehind the stop after the closure is sealed and so connected with thecap that the connection will be broken as an incident to removal of theclosure cap.

8. The combination with a container having projections on the outer wallof its mouth, of a closure cap comprising a skirt provided withinternally extending lugs engageable under said projections and an outturned bead between said lugs and the top of the skirt and projectingfar enough to permit engagement of the top and bottom walls of the headby tools for forcing the walls of the bead one toward the other toshorten the distance between the lugs on the cap and the top of the cap,and a tongue adapted to be engaged with one of the projections of thecontainer after the container has been sealed and having a fragileconnection with the cap.

9. A closure cap com-prising a skirt which is composed of materialhaving resilient properties and provided with inwardly extending lugsfor engaging projections on a container, said skirt being bowed andslotted at a plurality of points around its periphery to provideresiliently yielding portions above the lugs on the skirt.

10. A closure cap comprising a skirt made of a material having resilientqualities and provided at its bottom with inwardly extending lugs saidskirt having an annular bead slotted at a plurality of points to formresiliently yielding sections, and a container provided around its mouthwith projections having their lower faces formed as cams, said camsacting through the aforesaid resilient sections to draw the top of theclosure into engagement with the mouth of the container when the closureis rotated with its projections in engagement with the cams.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature.

HAROLD BATOHELOR.

